New Hope for White-Collar Job Seekers? It Depends on the Job

One exception to the positive trend has been hiring for sales positions, Mr. Gimbel said.

“This concerns me,” he explained. “At moments of confidence, you’d see companies hire 100 or 200 salespeople. We’re not seeing that, and I think that mirrors where the economy is right now.”

Another quiet area has been academia, with fewer searches for new administrators, said Shelly Weiss Storbeck, managing partner at Storbeck Search & Associates, a division of the Diversified Search Group.

“They’re a bit in no man’s land,” she said. “Colleges and universities don’t know what their financial position will be in the fall.” People are holding on to deposits, she said, since students at most schools have yet to find out if classes will be held in person, online or a hybrid of both in the fall term.

As a result, college trustees are asking presidents to stay on longer, rather than face vacancies. “The system is a bit clogged,” Ms. Storbeck added. “Hopefully, it will clear by late summer as more knowledge about Covid becomes available.”

That may be Ms. Storbeck’s hope, but it’s looking less likely that the economic effects of the coronavirus will be so quick to fade. There’s been a resurgence in cases recently in states that have reopened in the Sun Belt, and there are questions in many places about whether public schools and colleges will reopen as normal in September.

Also unclear is whether white-collar workers will want to return to crowded downtowns or dense office environments. Many have become used to working from home using digital networking platforms, just as they are shopping online rather than going to the store.

These shifts in professional and consumer habits are powering the demand for executives at the companies Mr. Banerji serves. He has searches underway for roles like chief digital officer, chief technology officer and head of engineering.